


Songstuck

by Know_Your_Paradoxes (orphan_account)



Category: Homestuck
Genre: All The Ships, Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst and Humor, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst and Tragedy, Angst with a Happy Ending, Ashen Romance | Auspistice, Awkward Crush, Awkward Romance, BAMFs, Bisexual Female Character, Bisexual Male Character, Black Romance, Caliginous Romance | Kismesis, Canonical Character Death, Character Death, Comedy, Comedy of Errors, Comfort/Angst, Crush at First Sight, Crushes, Dark Comedy, Dead People, Death, Depression, Drama & Romance, Eventual Romance, F/F, F/M, Female Friendship, Female Homosexuality, Female Relationships, First Crush, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Crack, Fluff and Humor, Fluffy Ending, Flush Crush, Flushed Romance | Matesprits, Fun, Funny, Gen, Heavy Angst, I'm Not Ashamed, Implied Relationships, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Cheating, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Interspecies Romance, Just A Lot of Tags, Light Angst, M/M, Male Friendship, Male Homosexuality, Male-Female Friendship, Minor Character Death, Multi, Not Really Character Death, One Shot Collection, Other, Pale Romance | Moirallegiance, Past Character Death, Platonic Female/Female Relationships, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Platonic Life Partners, Platonic Male/Male Relationships, Platonic Relationships, Platonic Romance, Platonic Soulmates, Rainbow Drinkers, Red Romance, References to Depression, Romance, Romantic Comedy, Romantic Fluff, Sad, Sad Ending, Secret Crush, So many AUs, So many tags, Song Lyrics, Songfic, Sorry Not Sorry, Soul-Crushing, Teen Angst, Teen Crush, Teen Romance, Temporary Character Death, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Tragedy, Tragedy/Comedy, Tragic Romance, Twisted and Fluffy Feelings, Unrequited Crush
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-02
Updated: 2016-01-31
Packaged: 2018-05-17 04:12:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5853670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/Know_Your_Paradoxes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of one-shots of every pairing of the main characters of Homestuck, set to a song that I believe fits with their ship. (Also there might be more than one entry per ship for each quadrant. Sorry not sorry.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Songstuck

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The base for this chapter is "The Grey" by Icon For Hire. (Oh snap it's also a pun get it because Karkat wears gray what)

Ever since they had become stranded on the meteor, Karkat had become much more angry and cold than ever before, and that was eating away at him. He couldn't tell who he was anymore. He had wanted more time to himself, and while he was grateful that he could spend a bit of time alone from time to time, that time alone made him feel even worse than he ever had before. He wondered if he was still a good person or not anymore. He couldn't tell.

The only person that he could rely on anymore was Dave fucking Strider, and that scared him more than anything else in the world.

Dave wasn't the most reliable person in the horrible, cancer-ridden universe, but he was all that Karkat needed, it seemed like. He wasn't sure if there were underlying feelings there, but at least Dave didn't mind helping him out with his problems. They both had problems, but Karkat's seemed to revolve around trying to keep his facade of not being a horrible mutant. Dave's just seemed to revolve around being too cool for his own good (or maybe the horrid familial problems he had with his brother/dad had something to do with it too, ectobiology was a hell of a thing).

Karkat wished that he could be like Dave--completely nonchalant, and able to act like nothing bothered him in the slightest. Dave was who he aspired to be, and he wasn't quite sure if that was a good or bad thing. But that didn't matter much anymore, he supposed. Nothing really did. Everything revolved around the inevitable last battle, and whether or not they were doomed was completely up to fate.

He wondered if anything could ever change. If he was too far lost. He really hated not knowing if there was any chance of salvation.

He half wanted to just give up trying to be friendly with anyone. But at the same time, he knew that if he didn't keep everything together, things between everyone else on the meteor would be much more tense than before. He wished that Dave would be more helpful with him instead of trying to make him more pissed off than he already was.

Sometimes he wondered exactly why he cared about Dave. Dave was messed up. He was sarcastic and funny and charismatic and creepy and douchey and dorky and cute and weird and mysterious and fucked up and... Karkat hated loving him.

But he still admitted that he loved him.

He wanted to snatch those glasses away from Dave's face, and see exactly what his eyes looked like, just to know what he was hiding. It was like a metaphor. Dave was hiding his eyes so that nobody could see what he looked like on the inside. Nobody could look at him and see his insecurities. He was no better than Karkat. They were both hiding their true selves. But Karkat wasn't nearly as good at it as Dave was.

One day, Karkat was sitting alone, reading one of the novels he had captchalogued before they had begun their trip on the meteor. It was one of his favorites Alternian romances.

Suddenly, as if right on cue, he heard a loud shout.

"YOOOOOOOOOOO! KARKLES!" Dave yelled, running over to where Karkat had positioned himself. He had a smirk on his face. The one that Karkat always wanted to either slap away or kiss off. He sat himself down right next to him. "What'cha readin' there, buddy?"

"Oh, this? It's called 'How To Attract Insufferable Pricks: For Fucking Pathetic Shitstains', apparently. Now fuck off and let me read in peace, Strider."

"Aww, is somebody a grumpy bear today?" asked Dave, in a mocking, pouty voice.

Karkat turned to look at Dave and sighed. "I wouldn't have been if you hadn't decided to nonchalantly douche your way over here."

"Hush, you. You know you love me."

"Fuck off," Karkat said, setting down his book and beginning to reach for Dave's sunglasses.

Dave leaned back just enough for Karkat to be unable to grab them. "Whoa, hands off the merchandise! If you wanna touch, you gotta pay up first."

"Fine," groaned Karkat, turning back to face his novel. He secretly was planning to take Dave's sunglasses when he wasn't expecting it, however. He tried not to give away his ulterior motive by smirking and subsequently ruining everything by making Dave suspect him. After about five seconds, Karkat swiftly turned back around and grabbed Dave's sunglasses.

"What the fuck?!" Dave yelled, reaching to Karkat, desperately trying to grab back his sunglasses.

Karkat was stunned by what he had seen.

"You... your eyes..." he said. His voice was quiet, for perhaps the first time in what felt like ages. He was no longer the shouty leader. He was now truly connected to Dave. He could sense every emotion that Dave was feeling, and he wondered if Dave could sense what he was feeling too.

Dave withdrew his arms from Karkat and stared at him for a second before shutting his eyes tightly and muttering, "Fuck." He then put out a hand, making a "Give 'em back" motion with it. "Karkles, give me back my shades."

"But..."

"My. Shades. Please. They're a gift from Bro."

Karkat didn't want to hand them back, but he ultimately did, since he knew how much Dave's brother/dad meant to him, even though he was kind of a shitty parent. Dave put them back on, and the two sat in silence for a good long while.

Occasionally, Karkat could hear Dave muttering a swear word, but he couldn't make out anything else that Dave was saying save for expletives.

"So, why do you hide your eyes like that?" he asked, finally mustering up enough courage to break the tension.

Dave looked to him, and immediately answered, "I'm not hiding my eyes. I mean, you just saw them, how fucking cool are they? Red eyes? Come on, that's fucking dope. I just..." He sighed, making vague gestures with his hands and arms. "How do I put this...? I... I'm really attached to these shades, I guess? Also, I'm worried that if anyone looks into my eyes, they'll know how fucked up and scared of everything I am? Like... everyone says they're the windows to the soul and shit, right? I was always worried that someone would be able to look right at me and know that I'm not who they think I am. I don't want anyone to worry about me."

Karkat nodded in understanding.

"Do you know why I always wear gray?" he asked, in response.

Dave shook his head, tilting it ever so slightly in a way that made him look cute, like a confused puppy.

"It's because I'm afraid to own up to being myself, too. I'm a... a mutant. My blood is bright-ass candy red. I've grown up all my life being even below the standards of society. I've never felt safe anywhere. So I used gray to try and mask myself. I started becoming shouty and cynical because it was all I had. I did that to hide how completely terrified I was. I still do. I know that everybody knows that I'm a mutant now, and I know that it really wasn't that good of a mask anyway. Fuck, Terezi figured it out pretty easily. But... I was so afraid of letting anybody see how weak I was... I didn't even want to admit it to myself. For a while, I had myself convinced that I was a strong, capable leader... But I was so wrong. And, I don't know why, but... seeing you... you've reminded me of that weakness, which is... God, I hate to admit this, but... it's one of the reasons that I really like talking to you."

"Aww, you really DO love me!" Dave had a smirk on his face.

Karkat groaned. "Wow, you bulge-monger. I just poured out my heart to you and you're more worried about me actually having justifications for hanging out with you?"

"Well, not really. I'm... I'm kind of glad you said that, really. I guess I won't need to wear these for the remainder of this heart-to-heart, huh?" Dave mused, reaching for his sunglasses, getting ready to take them off.

"Not if you don't want to take them off."

Dave shrugged. "Nah, it's cool. It'll be weird to actually see shit in real color for once. It's like the transition into color TV in the 1950's. I'll be like 'Ah, what is this Devil color on my screen and where the fuck do I turn back to the sanctuary of black and white? At least back then it didn't sound quite as racist when I said that I preferred the contrast between black and white. Fuck, now I just sound incredibly racist, goddammit NBC look what you've done. You've created mass chaos at the hands of unintentional slip-ups. Next thing, we'll all accidentally end up sounding like raging misogynists simply because we say that we prefer sitcoms with male leads.' Complete and utter tyranny at the hands of ABC Family. Millions are in hysterics. Mass chaos."

"Uh, in case you didn't notice, that analogy is completely lost on me."

"Oh, uh, yeah. Sorry. Forgot. Do I always monologue like that?"

"Kind of."

"Whatever. Anyway, back to the feels trip. So, uh... about... things..."

"Look, I'm going to make things a lot easier on both of us and get this out of the way. I have a crush on you and I can't tell whether it's red or black. Either way, it's fucking terrible. I would much prefer falling into dystopia at the hands of any of your human television networks than I would to continue having feelings for you this way. But now, I guess, knowing you the way I do now, it's not that horrible. Like, you're not that bad, I guess. Whatever, I guess maybe my crush is red-rom. If you have a problem, you're kindly invited to fuck off."

Karkat let out a sigh of both relief and frustration. Sure, he had just admitted his feelings for Dave, but at what cost? He couldn't believe this. Ridiculous folly. Inexcusable.

He sat there, along with Dave, in complete silence for a couple of seconds, before awkwardly clearing his throat and continuing, "But you know, you don't have to decide anything right now I guess-"

He was cut off by the feeling of Dave's hand on his cheek. Karkat could feel heat rising in his face. He must be blushing. (Ironically, this would only bring out the prevalence of red in his face.) He hated blushing. Almost as much as he hated crying. Both were completely embarrassing and completely gave away what seldom cover he had left of his true identity.

But that didn't matter right now. All that mattered was that Dave was there and his hand was on Karkat's cheek, and his eyes had never looked so strangely captivating before, and wait was he leaning forward, and shit now this was starting to sound like one of Karkat's romance novels, and oh God please don't tell him that Dave is actually going to kiss him, and fuck he's getting really close and his eyes are closed, and their noses are touching, and Karkat felt like he couldn't breathe anymore, and he could practically feel Dave's lips brushing against his, and dammit Karkat had finally realized how much he really did have red-rom feelings for Dave, and Karkat was finally closing his eyes in response, and oh God oh God oh God oh God it's about to happen.

Karkat couldn't stand the suspense, so he was the one to close the gap between them.

Dave let out a muffled sound of surprise in response, but he soon began to sink deeper into the kiss, making it much more comfortable between the two. Karkat's hands naturally found themselves cupping Dave's face on either side, and Dave's began to rest themselves on Karkat's shoulders. His lips tasted strangely like apples, Karkat noticed. Suddenly, just as Karkat was about to pull away, he felt Dave's arms begin to wrap themselves around his neck and pull him in even closer to him.

Perhaps Dave was getting more into this than Karkat had initially thought he would.

And when Dave finally pulled away, Karkat still kept his eyes closed, trying to hold on to that lingering moment of perfection in such a horrible, horrible time period. It was like a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders, and now he was free to be whoever he wanted to be. He could still feel the sensation of Dave's lips pressed against his own, and he would've given anything and everything for him to have immediately kissed him again.

When he opened his eyes, Dave was staring directly at him, with a cocky grin on his face. Karkat let out a small chuckle in response, being reminded of the person that he had actually fallen in love with. It almost felt like the Dave that he had fallen for and the Dave that had just kissed him were two separate people.

Karkat loved them both.

"Wait, so is this a matesprit thing? Are we going full-on for that right now? Or are we gonna do things the classy way and work our way up to that? Because I'll have you know that I'm a guy with very high standards, and right now, you haven't even taken me out on a proper date. I need to be wooed, Vantas. I'm not the type to get flustered just on fancy words and shit."

Karkat rolled his eyes. "If you want, I can help you alchemize some apple juice and we can call things good. Plus, I wouldn't necessarily mind if we spent some more time like this..."


End file.
